This review is dedicated to the Asus LS201 monitor, which, in addition to all the advantages of ordinary flat monitors, also has a heavy-duty protective glass protection, which is why this monitor was awarded the title of "impenetrable". The manufacturer claims that this glass is extremely hard and durable, withstands all kinds of blows of fate.
A little testing of this monitor left a positive impression of the strength of the protection. For example, attempts to leave marks with sharp objects have been unsuccessful. Further, the use of dyes, they also did not damage the monitor, and after using a cloth and a solution for cleaning monitors, the product was as good as new. The last way to somehow break the protection of the monitor was an attempt to play tennis with the participation of the monitor, which did not lead to anything. The glass received absolutely no damage, this result is really worthy of attention. Undoubtedly, the manufacturer has installed a very hard coating in the monitor, several times higher than the standard one on many competing models.
Product appearance
At this point of the review, things are as good as in terms of the monitor's resistance to impacts. In terms of design, the Asus LS201 monitor will adorn any interior. Its execution style is strict and graceful. The body is painted black, but under the display you can see a strip of silver paint, emphasizing the location of the monitor menu keys. The corresponding explanatory labels for each key are located slightly below and are highlighted with orange-red backlighting. The power control key is illuminated with a blue LED. All this looks very impressive, considering the ring-shaped black stand with silver edging, in which are built-in LEDs that indicate the current state of the monitor, glowing, depending on this, with a blue or orange glow.
Monitor communication connectors, menu
The product is equipped with both analog and digital inputs. They are represented by D-Sub and DVI inputs, respectively. Thanks to the external power supply, the monitor itself turned out to be extremely thin, this figure is equal to 35 millimeters for the Asus LS201. Since this product belongs to the class of budget solutions, then its ergonomics are appropriate - you can only control the tilt of the monitor forward and backward, and even then, only by a few degrees. As for the menu, it is quite standard for monitors from this manufacturer. There are four keys for control and navigation in the menu:
The S key provides quick access to the Splendid function without having to bring up the main menu;
The - / down arrow key provides quick access to the menu for changing the brightness level, and in addition, it is necessary to scroll through the tabs and move in each of the submenus;
Menu key - needed to call the internal menu of the product and confirm the selected action or parameter;
The + / Up arrow key navigates through the menus.
Standard parameters that can be edited by the user are: brightness level, contrast, color temperature selection, input selection and other minor settings. In addition, the monitor uses proprietary Splendid technology, which automatically adjusts the display depending on which mode has been selected. There are five preset modes in the monitor. These are Standard Mode, Theater Mode, Game Mode, Night Mode, Landscape Mode. For each of these modes, its own parameters of brightness, contrast, etc. are selected, which are automatically set when one or another mode is selected.In addition, it is possible to select the current color temperature mode: cold, warm, custom.
Impressions from work
A little testing of the Asus LS201 showed that the maximum brightness of the monitor is about 270 cd / m2. However, after the calibration, this value changed and amounted to 140 Cd / m2 (46.7%). This means that this monitor initially has a brightness margin of about 42.6%. As for the response time, it was slightly higher than the figures declared by the manufacturer - instead of 5 ms it was 8 ms, and the maximum response time was 29 ms, the average value was 13 ms. While these numbers may not sound so impressive, in reality, the monitor's image quality is pretty good. In terms of color reproduction, the Asus LS201 pleased, despite the presence of a TN matrix, the shades were reproduced at a good level. In general, the image on the monitor looks quite realistic.
Although, of course, the budget technology of the matrix made itself felt when checking the viewing angles of the image. At an angle, the contrast of the picture changes significantly, color distortion is also noticeable. Although, small deviations from the straight position in front of the monitor will practically not change the picture, so this is not a very significant parameter. The only option when the distortion is very strong with a slight deviation is when looking at the monitor from below. In this case, there is a significant distortion of the image, especially its color palette.
The uniformity of the backlighting is also far from ideal, it is uneven in the upper and lower areas of the product screen. Keep this in mind if, in dark movie scenes, you suddenly find a slight backlight at the bottom or top of the display.
Although, in general, the backlight level is rather mediocre. The Asus LS201 monitor runs at a maximum resolution of 1440 x 1050 pixels, although its twenty-inch competitors can already run at a higher resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels.
When working with text files, the acceptable image quality, good contrast level, and the absence of blurry text were noted. Small difficulties arose only when working with very small fonts of some Internet pages.
During video viewing, the monitor also showed good results, and the built-in dynamic contrast mode greatly improved the quality of the displayed picture.
Thanks to the good response time, no artifacts were noticeable in gaming applications, and even small objects were well discernible.
Summary of the review
Based on the results of the work done, we can say that the Asus LS201 monitor turned out to be quite good in terms of functionality, the technical indicators for a budget monitor are also in order. It will cope well with the tasks that are set for office monitors, but for home use it would still be better to look for something more functional and of high quality, albeit at a slightly higher cost. The only really interesting thing about this monitor is a very hard protective coating, so if your work is fraught with various unpleasant accidents, then this product will be a good purchase in this case.
Among the positive qualities of the monitor stand out:
The presence of heavy-duty protective glass;
Beautiful appearance;
Matrix not bad in terms of speed;
Dynamic contrast.
Negative points:
unergonomic;
uneven backlighting;
low resolution.
